Heretofore others have suggested the use of slot feeders such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,650,693; 1,447,069; 1,234,532 and British Pat. No. 1,144,721. Also heretofore, it has been suggested that the bin discharge gates above an endless belt conveyor be tapered as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,536. In the May 1968 issue of the Mining Engineering magazine published by the Society of Mining Engineers there is illustrated and discussed a tapered slot feeder with a gate, for instance as disclosed on page 71. U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,134 shows a bulk handling ship with a traveling feeder on rails which is movable to a series of unloading positions under horizontally aligned holds of a ship permitting selective unloading onto an endless belt conveyor.